Meeting
by cliocat
Summary: Modern AU. Merlin, Arthur, Morgana and Gwen all meet together for the first time by pure coincidence - or so it seems - in a hospital waiting room.


**A/N This is something I wrote a couple of years ago, thought I might as well post it, since I've done it. It was really intended as the beginning of what would be a very long fic - but that will almost certainly never get written. So it's just a one-shot now.**

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><p>The loud, cheery ringtone couldn't have sounded more out of place in the quiet room, where any talking was done in low, hushed tones. Arthur fumbled in his pocket for the phone in an attempt to stop it as quickly as possible. He glanced briefly at the iPhone's screen before putting it to his ear, a frown on his face. "Morgana, I can't talk now, I'm at the hospital." he snapped, then immediately regretted telling her where he was, as she began squawking questions. "What? The hospital? Why? Are you hurt? What's happened?" she immediately demanded, without giving him a chance to think of, let alone vocalise, any answers. "No, shut up, it's not me," he told her impatiently. All traces of irritation left his voice as he explained "I…I knocked someone over. A girl…"<p>

"You did _what?_" Morgana gasped. "Ok, I'm coming. See you in a minute"

"No, Morgana, don't-" Arthur began, the annoyance returning, but she had already hung up. "Damnit" he growled, replacing his phone in his pocket and tipping his head back so it hit the wall behind him.  
>-<p>

Fifteen minutes later, Morgana hurried in, looking round for Arthur and accompanied by that girl who cleaned her flat - Gwen was it? He briefly wondered how on earth she could walk that fast in those shoes, before she spotted him and headed his way. "Morgana, why have you come? I don't need you here and I didn't want you here."

"Charming" commented his adopted sister sarcastically.

"And why have you brought your cleaner?" Arthur continued, waving a hand in the girl's direction.

"Gwen drove me here." Morgana answered, "Faster than waiting for a taxi. Haven't you learnt her name yet? You met her months ago"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Get her to drive you back home."

"No, I'm staying." she insisted. "Moral support. What happened?"

Arthur sighed. He wasn't entirely sure. He explained as best he could as they sat on the uncomfortable plastic chairs, which reminded Arthur of an airport. "So now I'm just waiting for someone to tell me what's going on. They're uh, operating or whatever now" He swallowed.

Morgana knew Arthur well enough to see how shaken he was, and patted him sympathetically on the shoulder.

"Um, does anyone want a coffee? Or tea?" Gwen asked slightly nervously, speaking up for the first time. They both declined, and she went to the small hospital café opposite them to get her own tea.

"That's her boyfriend over there" Arthur volunteered, pointing to a scruffy, dark-haired boy about his own age, leaning against a wall.

"And I bet you haven't spoken a word to him" Morgana sighed. "You should go apologise. Go on!" She prodded her reluctant adopted-brother until he got up and walked over to where the tall, slim boy was standing, staring at nothing.

_Merlin looked round when he heard someone clearing their throat near him. A well dressed man was standing there. _

"_I__'__m, uh, I__'__m Arthur__"__ he said loudly, holding his hand out. Merlin just looked at it, but said quietly: __"__Merlin. You__'__re the guy who - hit Freya?__"__ Arthur lowered his hand awkwardly. __"__Uh, yes.__"__ he admitted. __"__It wasn__'__t my fault, but__…__I__'__m sorry you__'__re having to suffer.__"__ Merlin continued to look at him without speaking. This seemed to confuse the man - Arthur - because after a few seconds he said __"__So__…__yeah. Bye__"__ and hurried off again.  
><em>

Arthur hurried back to Morgana, who was sitting with arms and legs tightly crossed, glaring at him. "That," she declared as soon as he came close, "was the worst apology I have ever heard and _you,_" she continued, jabbing his arm with one long nail to emphasise her point, "are pathetic."

Arthur winced, and glared back. "How did you even hear that? You must have ears like a bat."

Morgana ignored this. "I'm going over to apologise to the poor man for your apology. You see? This is why you need me here. To help you to interact with other human beings properly." She flounced off to talk to Merlin, who had now moved to a chair, while Arthur scowled after her.

_For the second time in as many minutes, someone was speaking to him. __"__Sorry about him__"__ Merlin looked up wearily. A girl who looked as though she belonged on some glamorous American TV show was looking down at him with concern in her blue eyes. __"__He really does feel bad,__"__ she continued, __"__I can tell. He__'__s just kind of__…__emotionally repressed.__"_

_Merlin stared at her blankly. _

"_Arthur," she explained, gesturing behind her with an elegant, manicured __hand, __"__He__'__s my brother, I__'__m afraid. Well, kind of. I overheard his apology to you__"__ She __used her long fingers to put air quotes around __"__apology__"__. _

"_Oh. Right.__"__ Merlin replied, not sure what else he could say_.

"_I__'__m Morgana,__"__ she told him. She had an upper class accent, like her blond kind-of-brother. _

"_Merlin.__"_

"_Hi.__"__ she smiled. She had very white teeth. __"__I__'__m very sorry too about__…"_

"_Freya__"__ he told her. __"__My girlfriend.__"_

"_Yes, Arthur said. Um, he also said that she seemed to__…__that it wasn__'__t__…__. entirely an accident?__"__ Morgana questioned apologetically. __"__I__'__m sorry, it__'__s none of my business__…"_

"_No, it__'__s fine. He__'__s probably right, I mean she did__…__she was__…"__ Merlin struggled to find the right words for something he rarely talked about. __"__She found life hard. So I can believe she might have__…__stepped out, like your brother says she did.__"__ Why was he telling her this? he wondered to himself. Telling a girl he__'__d only just met about Freya and her problems was unlike him. Morgana put her hand on his arm and smiled at him again, this one sad and sympathetic.  
><em>

Arthur watched the two talking with slightly narrowed eyes. He seemed to be talking perfectly normally to _her_. Gwen arrived back from buying her cup of tea, and asked where Morgana was. When Arthur nodded at the dark-haired pair talking, she looked over at them and she frowned in confusion. "But what's Merlin doing…" She turned to Arthur in shock. "Tell me you didn't- it's not…you didn't hit _Freya?_"

Now it was Arthur's turn to look confused. "Yeah, that was her name, how did you…?"

"That's _Merlin!_" Gwen exclaimed. "Oh god, ohgodohgod" She looked shell-shocked, and she covered her mouth with her hand in dismay.

"Wait, you know him?" Alex asked, but she was already crossing to where Morgana and Merlin were sitting. "What the hell…?" he muttered to himself, as he reluctantly got up to join them.

There were a lot of surprises and a lot of confusion at the small reunion. "Arthur you _idiot - _you ran over _Gwen__'__s friend__'__s _girlfriend!" Morgana shrieked at him, looking as if she wanted to hit him. If they weren't in such a public place he thought she probably would have.

"It's not as if I did it on purpose! I didn't do it to offend you!" he shouted back angrily.

"Gwen, what are you doing here? How did you know?" an astonished Merlin asked.

"I didn't - at least, I didn't know it was Freya. I drove Morgana over here because Arthur told her he'd hit someone. She can't drive and I was there with my car so.."

"But how do you know Morgana?"

"I'm her cleaner."

"And my friend" interjected Morgana with another of her perfect smiles.

"Wow" said Arthur, exhaling loudly. "This is a bit of a crazy coincidence."

"I guess it's true what they say - everyone does know everyone else in Edinburgh." Morgana shrugged.  
>-<p>

Half an hour later they were told that, despite the doctors' best efforts, Freya had been too badly injured for them to save her. Merlin put his head in his hands and bit his lip hard as silent tears streamed down his face. Gwen hugged him fiercely, and Morgana embraced Arthur, who was looking shocked.

"I can't believe I killed someone." he muttered so that only Morgana could hear.

"I know." she murmured.

A few seconds later he pulled away from her. "OK?" Morgana asked, and he nodded in response. So the two of them turned their attention to Merlin as well.  
>-<p>

When Morgana had gone to the bathroom and Arthur was scowling about a text he'd just received, Merlin began to think about going home. As an image of his familiar flat came to his mind, he almost shuddered. How could he face going home and spending the night surrounded by Freya's things…knowing that she was dead? He turned to Gwen and said hesitantly "I don't think I can - go to the flat tonight, I just…I think seeing all Freya's stuff would be…" he broke off, covering his mouth with his hand as he fought to remain in control.

"Shhh" placated Gwen gently, "I understand. You can stay with me, long as you want."

Merlin nodded "Thanks Gwen. It's really nice of you, when you don't know me that well…"

"Hey, it's fine. You'll be a great roommate."

He smiled slightly in gratitude.  
>-<p>

"Goodbye Merlin" Morgana said as she hugged him. "It was nice meeting you… I hope you'll be ok" She felt her words were a little everyday and inadequate - but what was the right way to say goodbye to a virtual stranger who you'd been with at such an emotional time?

"Will you come to the funeral?" Merlin blurted out. "Bring - Arthur too, if you want."

She looked surprised, but then said "Thanks. Of course we'll come if you want us to"

"I don't know when it'll be yet obviously but…I'll let you know through Gwen. You've been great so I just thought…"

"Here, I'll give you my number" Morgana offered, digging in her bag for paper and pen. She scribbled down the eleven digits then pressed the paper into Merlin's hand, hugged him again and left.

Arthur quickly muttered "See you there, then." and strode off after Morgana.

Gwen took Merlin's arm. "Come on, let's go home"

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><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed :) Reviews will be treasured, especially concrit, so please do let me know what you think :D<strong>


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